diff --git a/block.c b/block.c
index b44db05d14..8437d579e0 100644
--- a/block.c
+++ b/block.c
@@ -1894,8 +1894,7 @@ static int bdrv_fill_options(QDict **options, const char *filename,
 
 static int bdrv_child_check_perm(BdrvChild *c, BlockReopenQueue *q,
                                  uint64_t perm, uint64_t shared,
-                                 GSList *ignore_children,
-                                 bool *tighten_restrictions, Error **errp);
+                                 GSList *ignore_children, Error **errp);
 static void bdrv_child_abort_perm_update(BdrvChild *c);
 static void bdrv_child_set_perm(BdrvChild *c);
 
@@ -1968,43 +1967,18 @@ static void bdrv_child_perm(BlockDriverState *bs, BlockDriverState *child_bs,
  * permissions of all its parents. This involves checking whether all necessary
  * permission changes to child nodes can be performed.
  *
- * Will set *tighten_restrictions to true if and only if new permissions have to
- * be taken or currently shared permissions are to be unshared.  Otherwise,
- * errors are not fatal as long as the caller accepts that the restrictions
- * remain tighter than they need to be.  The caller still has to abort the
- * transaction.
- * @tighten_restrictions cannot be used together with @q: When reopening, we may
- * encounter fatal errors even though no restrictions are to be tightened.  For
- * example, changing a node from RW to RO will fail if the WRITE permission is
- * to be kept.
- *
  * A call to this function must always be followed by a call to bdrv_set_perm()
  * or bdrv_abort_perm_update().
  */
 static int bdrv_check_perm(BlockDriverState *bs, BlockReopenQueue *q,
                            uint64_t cumulative_perms,
                            uint64_t cumulative_shared_perms,
-                           GSList *ignore_children,
-                           bool *tighten_restrictions, Error **errp)
+                           GSList *ignore_children, Error **errp)
 {
     BlockDriver *drv = bs->drv;
     BdrvChild *c;
     int ret;
 
-    assert(!q || !tighten_restrictions);
-
-    if (tighten_restrictions) {
-        uint64_t current_perms, current_shared;
-        uint64_t added_perms, removed_shared_perms;
-
-        bdrv_get_cumulative_perm(bs, &current_perms, &current_shared);
-
-        added_perms = cumulative_perms & ~current_perms;
-        removed_shared_perms = current_shared & ~cumulative_shared_perms;
-
-        *tighten_restrictions = added_perms || removed_shared_perms;
-    }
-
     /* Write permissions never work with read-only images */
     if ((cumulative_perms & (BLK_PERM_WRITE | BLK_PERM_WRITE_UNCHANGED)) &&
         !bdrv_is_writable_after_reopen(bs, q))
@@ -2061,18 +2035,12 @@ static int bdrv_check_perm(BlockDriverState *bs, BlockReopenQueue *q,
     /* Check all children */
     QLIST_FOREACH(c, &bs->children, next) {
         uint64_t cur_perm, cur_shared;
-        bool child_tighten_restr;
 
         bdrv_child_perm(bs, c->bs, c, c->role, q,
                         cumulative_perms, cumulative_shared_perms,
                         &cur_perm, &cur_shared);
         ret = bdrv_child_check_perm(c, q, cur_perm, cur_shared, ignore_children,
-                                    tighten_restrictions ? &child_tighten_restr
-                                                         : NULL,
                                     errp);
-        if (tighten_restrictions) {
-            *tighten_restrictions |= child_tighten_restr;
-        }
         if (ret < 0) {
             return ret;
         }
@@ -2195,22 +2163,18 @@ char *bdrv_perm_names(uint64_t perm)
  * set, the BdrvChild objects in this list are ignored in the calculations;
  * this allows checking permission updates for an existing reference.
  *
- * See bdrv_check_perm() for the semantics of @tighten_restrictions.
- *
  * Needs to be followed by a call to either bdrv_set_perm() or
  * bdrv_abort_perm_update(). */
 static int bdrv_check_update_perm(BlockDriverState *bs, BlockReopenQueue *q,
                                   uint64_t new_used_perm,
                                   uint64_t new_shared_perm,
                                   GSList *ignore_children,
-                                  bool *tighten_restrictions,
                                   Error **errp)
 {
     BdrvChild *c;
     uint64_t cumulative_perms = new_used_perm;
     uint64_t cumulative_shared_perms = new_shared_perm;
 
-    assert(!q || !tighten_restrictions);
 
     /* There is no reason why anyone couldn't tolerate write_unchanged */
     assert(new_shared_perm & BLK_PERM_WRITE_UNCHANGED);
@@ -2224,10 +2188,6 @@ static int bdrv_check_update_perm(BlockDriverState *bs, BlockReopenQueue *q,
             char *user = bdrv_child_user_desc(c);
             char *perm_names = bdrv_perm_names(new_used_perm & ~c->shared_perm);
 
-            if (tighten_restrictions) {
-                *tighten_restrictions = true;
-            }
-
             error_setg(errp, "Conflicts with use by %s as '%s', which does not "
                              "allow '%s' on %s",
                        user, c->name, perm_names, bdrv_get_node_name(c->bs));
@@ -2240,10 +2200,6 @@ static int bdrv_check_update_perm(BlockDriverState *bs, BlockReopenQueue *q,
             char *user = bdrv_child_user_desc(c);
             char *perm_names = bdrv_perm_names(c->perm & ~new_shared_perm);
 
-            if (tighten_restrictions) {
-                *tighten_restrictions = true;
-            }
-
             error_setg(errp, "Conflicts with use by %s as '%s', which uses "
                              "'%s' on %s",
                        user, c->name, perm_names, bdrv_get_node_name(c->bs));
@@ -2257,21 +2213,19 @@ static int bdrv_check_update_perm(BlockDriverState *bs, BlockReopenQueue *q,
     }
 
     return bdrv_check_perm(bs, q, cumulative_perms, cumulative_shared_perms,
-                           ignore_children, tighten_restrictions, errp);
+                           ignore_children, errp);
 }
 
 /* Needs to be followed by a call to either bdrv_child_set_perm() or
  * bdrv_child_abort_perm_update(). */
 static int bdrv_child_check_perm(BdrvChild *c, BlockReopenQueue *q,
                                  uint64_t perm, uint64_t shared,
-                                 GSList *ignore_children,
-                                 bool *tighten_restrictions, Error **errp)
+                                 GSList *ignore_children, Error **errp)
 {
     int ret;
 
     ignore_children = g_slist_prepend(g_slist_copy(ignore_children), c);
-    ret = bdrv_check_update_perm(c->bs, q, perm, shared, ignore_children,
-                                 tighten_restrictions, errp);
+    ret = bdrv_check_update_perm(c->bs, q, perm, shared, ignore_children, errp);
     g_slist_free(ignore_children);
 
     if (ret < 0) {
@@ -2312,14 +2266,13 @@ static void bdrv_child_abort_perm_update(BdrvChild *c)
     bdrv_abort_perm_update(c->bs);
 }
 
-static int bdrv_refresh_perms(BlockDriverState *bs, bool *tighten_restrictions,
-                              Error **errp)
+static int bdrv_refresh_perms(BlockDriverState *bs, Error **errp)
 {
     int ret;
     uint64_t perm, shared_perm;
 
     bdrv_get_cumulative_perm(bs, &perm, &shared_perm);
-    ret = bdrv_check_perm(bs, NULL, perm, shared_perm, NULL, NULL, errp);
+    ret = bdrv_check_perm(bs, NULL, perm, shared_perm, NULL, errp);
     if (ret < 0) {
         bdrv_abort_perm_update(bs);
         return ret;
@@ -2334,13 +2287,12 @@ int bdrv_child_try_set_perm(BdrvChild *c, uint64_t perm, uint64_t shared,
 {
     Error *local_err = NULL;
     int ret;
-    bool tighten_restrictions;
 
-    ret = bdrv_child_check_perm(c, NULL, perm, shared, NULL,
-                                &tighten_restrictions, &local_err);
+    ret = bdrv_child_check_perm(c, NULL, perm, shared, NULL, &local_err);
     if (ret < 0) {
         bdrv_child_abort_perm_update(c);
-        if (tighten_restrictions) {
+        if ((perm & ~c->perm) || (c->shared_perm & ~shared)) {
+            /* tighten permissions */
             error_propagate(errp, local_err);
         } else {
             /*
@@ -2642,15 +2594,12 @@ static void bdrv_replace_child(BdrvChild *child, BlockDriverState *new_bs)
     }
 
     if (old_bs) {
-        bool tighten_restrictions;
-
         /*
          * Update permissions for old node. We're just taking a parent away, so
          * we're loosening restrictions. Errors of permission update are not
          * fatal in this case, ignore them.
          */
-        bdrv_refresh_perms(old_bs, &tighten_restrictions, NULL);
-        assert(tighten_restrictions == false);
+        bdrv_refresh_perms(old_bs, NULL);
 
         /* When the parent requiring a non-default AioContext is removed, the
          * node moves back to the main AioContext */
@@ -2680,8 +2629,7 @@ BdrvChild *bdrv_root_attach_child(BlockDriverState *child_bs,
     Error *local_err = NULL;
     int ret;
 
-    ret = bdrv_check_update_perm(child_bs, NULL, perm, shared_perm, NULL, NULL,
-                                 errp);
+    ret = bdrv_check_update_perm(child_bs, NULL, perm, shared_perm, NULL, errp);
     if (ret < 0) {
         bdrv_abort_perm_update(child_bs);
         bdrv_unref(child_bs);
@@ -3813,7 +3761,7 @@ int bdrv_reopen_multiple(BlockReopenQueue *bs_queue, Error **errp)
     QTAILQ_FOREACH(bs_entry, bs_queue, entry) {
         BDRVReopenState *state = &bs_entry->state;
         ret = bdrv_check_perm(state->bs, bs_queue, state->perm,
-                              state->shared_perm, NULL, NULL, errp);
+                              state->shared_perm, NULL, errp);
         if (ret < 0) {
             goto cleanup_perm;
         }
@@ -3825,7 +3773,7 @@ int bdrv_reopen_multiple(BlockReopenQueue *bs_queue, Error **errp)
                             bs_queue, state->perm, state->shared_perm,
                             &nperm, &nshared);
             ret = bdrv_check_update_perm(state->new_backing_bs, NULL,
-                                         nperm, nshared, NULL, NULL, errp);
+                                         nperm, nshared, NULL, errp);
             if (ret < 0) {
                 goto cleanup_perm;
             }
@@ -4615,7 +4563,7 @@ static void bdrv_replace_node_common(BlockDriverState *from,
 
     /* Check whether the required permissions can be granted on @to, ignoring
      * all BdrvChild in @list so that they can't block themselves. */
-    ret = bdrv_check_update_perm(to, NULL, perm, shared, list, NULL, errp);
+    ret = bdrv_check_update_perm(to, NULL, perm, shared, list, errp);
     if (ret < 0) {
         bdrv_abort_perm_update(to);
         goto out;
@@ -5795,7 +5743,7 @@ int coroutine_fn bdrv_co_invalidate_cache(BlockDriverState *bs, Error **errp)
      */
     if (bs->open_flags & BDRV_O_INACTIVE) {
         bs->open_flags &= ~BDRV_O_INACTIVE;
-        ret = bdrv_refresh_perms(bs, NULL, errp);
+        ret = bdrv_refresh_perms(bs, errp);
         if (ret < 0) {
             bs->open_flags |= BDRV_O_INACTIVE;
             return ret;
@@ -5874,7 +5822,6 @@ static bool bdrv_has_bds_parent(BlockDriverState *bs, bool only_active)
 static int bdrv_inactivate_recurse(BlockDriverState *bs)
 {
     BdrvChild *child, *parent;
-    bool tighten_restrictions;
     int ret;
 
     if (!bs->drv) {
@@ -5913,8 +5860,7 @@ static int bdrv_inactivate_recurse(BlockDriverState *bs)
      * We only tried to loosen restrictions, so errors are not fatal, ignore
      * them.
      */
-    bdrv_refresh_perms(bs, &tighten_restrictions, NULL);
-    assert(tighten_restrictions == false);
+    bdrv_refresh_perms(bs, NULL);
 
     /* Recursively inactivate children */
     QLIST_FOREACH(child, &bs->children, next) {
